novelslam Chapter 51 Liangpi
Chapter 51 Liangpi
Although Lu Wen had previously said he would fully cooperate with Lu Yuan in running the restaurant, this time he was going to invite the aunties he wasn't very familiar with.
It's best to let the old man arrange these things; otherwise, it would be presumptuous for a junior like myself to go and ask him directly.
As night deepened, Lu Yuan emerged from Old Master Lu's courtyard with satisfaction, whistling as he walked home.
At Lu Yuan's house, Wei Yinghong was counting a wad of money over and over again.
I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to deposit money in the bank.
Unexpectedly, before he could even enjoy the money, Lu Yuan had already spent it all.
"Alright, you've been counting all night, haven't you finished yet?"
Lu Changming felt like he was about to hallucinate; there was a constant rattling sound in his ears.
"Can't I just count them? They're due tomorrow, and it'll take ages to save up this much!"
Wei Yinghong glanced at Lu Changming, paused for a moment, and then continued counting.
"How long can it take? It's just a week!" Lu Changming said casually.
Upon hearing this, Wei Yinghong realized what was happening and suddenly felt that counting money was no longer a happy experience.
"Our son is already earning this much money?"
Lu Changming put away a stack of forms, held them up with both hands, tapped them a few times, and said calmly:
"You're always so impulsive, while others are much more meticulous about the accounts than you. Today, Aunt Li kept saying how amazing our son is and that she wanted to introduce him to someone."
Wei Yinghong was a little confused: "Wasn't she talking about her cousin's family?"
Lu Changming said, "What's there to say about her cousin's family? In the end, it all comes down to how outstanding her cousin's granddaughter is!"
"I said, 'Why did she spend the whole afternoon whispering to me about this?'"
Wei Yinghong suddenly realized, and then said somewhat embarrassedly:
"I was thinking about Teacher Xiao Zhao all the time!"
Lu Changming was utterly speechless. "You really dare to think that way!"
. . .
The next morning, the weather was still crisp and clear.
When one rooster crowed, all the roosters in the village started competing to see who could crow the loudest.
Now, when preparing vegetables in the morning, Lu Yuan only needs to cut the mutton.
Lu Jie can handle even the simple side dishes, and the other braised egg vendors are also practicing hard and making rapid progress.
But today, Lu Yuan still arrived at the kitchen an hour early, took out a large basin, and started kneading dough.
Seeing Lu Yuan kneading the dough himself, Lu Fa excitedly asked, "Master, are you making the hand-pulled noodles yourself this morning?"
He asked this for a reason, because only Lu Yuan knew how to make Xinjiang-style pulled noodles.
The other aunties are also very good at kneading dough, but they only know how to cut noodles with a knife and roll them out by hand.
Hand-pulled noodles taste great, but they're nowhere near as good as hand-pulled noodles.
Lu Yuan glared at him and said, "You look like a noodle, go chop your vegetables."
Lu Yuan knew what he meant; he guessed that Lu Jie's cooking had upset him recently.
But there's nothing we can do about it. The only opportunity we can use to practice now is making staff meals for everyone.
To help these guys grow faster, Lu Yuan would guide Lu Jie in preparing the staff meals.
Although Lu Yuan personally added all the seasonings to the dishes Lu Jie cooked, the taste wasn't particularly amazing.
After all, Lu Yuan has decades of experience, and the gap in skill and technique is insurmountable.
Lu Yuan kneaded the dough to make a Northwest specialty snack: liangpi (cold skin noodles).
In later generations, opening a liangpi (cold skin noodles) shop was relatively simple, as suppliers delivered all kinds of liangpi every day.
But nowadays, if you want to make any kind of snack, you have to start by preparing the most basic ingredients.
This is why everyone misses the food from their childhood.
Because mass-produced products contain very few components, each product is handmade by its own hands. Although each has its own shortcomings, each also has its own unique characteristics.
The Northwest has been barren and resource-scarce since ancient times. It was difficult to even have enough to eat, let alone satisfy the palate's desire for delicious food.
However, the wheat grown in this Northwest region is of very high quality, with an astonishingly high protein content, which is what is commonly known as high-gluten flour.
High-gluten flour makes noodles and pastries particularly chewy, and this chewiness is even more pronounced when applied to cold skin noodles.
Therefore, Liangpi (cold skin noodles) perfectly showcases the advantages of Northwest China's produce and can be considered a representative work of the wisdom of the working people of Northwest China.
Lu Yuan kneaded a slightly soft dough, and to make it more elastic, he kept flattening and rolling it into a ball with his fist.
After repeating this process many times, add water to the bowl, slightly less than the dough, and let it rest and rise.
After the dough had risen, Lu Yuan began to wash it.
The most important thing when washing dough is patience. You have to keep adding water and washing it until it becomes a cloudy white paste. Then pour it into another large bowl and repeat the process.
The process isn't finished until the dough turns slightly yellow and you can feel its amazing elasticity when you gently pinch it with your fingers.
At this point, shape the washed dough into a rectangle and then put it into boiling water to cook.
Before long, the washed dough was cooked into water gluten, which is a common side dish added to cold noodles.
If you divide the washed dough into small pieces and fry them, you'll make fried gluten.
Fried gluten is often used in home cooking in Northwest China.
In the days when meat was unaffordable, people often made braised gluten with water bamboo shoots or braised gluten with bok choy to add some oil to their stomachs.
Besides, Tianjin's single-cook gluten and Shanghai's stir-fried gluten are both famous dishes for making fried gluten.
From the moment he started kneading the dough, Lu Yuan shooed the several onlookers, including Lu Dan, to the side.
However, Lu Yuan called over several of the aunties who worked as waitresses to watch the process in detail.
Actually, most women in Northwest China know how to wash gluten.
Lu Yuan called them over to see this so that he could set the standards for them.
The washed dough is left to settle quietly for two hours before use.
After lunch, the aunties were called over to watch Lu Yuan steam cold noodles.
Despite having many questions in their hearts, they still earnestly followed Lu Yuan to learn how to steam cold noodles.
After the batter has settled, there are clumps of starch at the bottom of the bowl, and cloudy water on top.
After carefully pouring out the water, Lu Yuan added some salt to the basin, then added a small amount of water and stirred it into a slightly thick batter.
On the stove, a pot of water had already boiled.
Lu Yuan first instructed Lu Jie to prepare a large basin of cold water, and then took out a flat-bottomed iron plate that he had bought before.
Lu Yuan quickly brushed a layer of oil onto the iron plate, then scooped up a ladle of freshly mixed batter and poured it into the plate, shaking it quickly to spread it evenly.
Then place the iron plate over boiling water, cover the pot, and steam for 2 minutes.
After steaming, quickly remove the iron plate and let it float in the basin of cold water that Lu Jie had just prepared.
Taking advantage of the moment when the temperature changed, Lu Yuan ran his finger around the edge of the iron plate, lifted one end, and then peeled off the whole steamed cold skin.
The steamed cold noodles were very chewy. Lu Yuan stretched them with his hand and quickly felt the elasticity of the noodles against him.
Lu Yuan pinched one end and slammed it against the cutting board a couple more times. The cold noodles were like a rubber band, only deformed and bounced back, without breaking at all.
Lu Yuan unfolded the cold noodles again and handed them to the aunties, saying:
"When making liangpi (cold skin noodles), steam one sheet first to check the effect. If it's too thick, just add some water to the batter."
At this point, the old woman couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Yuan, what are you trying to do, teaching us how to wash gluten and how to steam cold noodles?"
Lu Yuan said with a smile, "I'm planning to open another liangpi (cold skin noodles) and mala tang (spicy hot pot) shop. I plan to hire all the aunties to work in the kitchen and give them a raise as well."